The hand-wringing has to stop. We must act

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If we do not intervene to support freedom and democracy in Egypt and Syria, the Middle East faces catastrophe

The announcement of the summit in Jordan this week, after the use of chemical
weapons in Syria, is very welcome. Western policy is at a crossroads:
commentary or action; shaping events or reacting to them. After the long and
painful campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand every impulse to
stay clear of the turmoil, to watch but not to intervene, to ratchet up
language but not to engage in the hard, even harsh business of changing
reality on the ground. But we have collectively to understand the
consequences of wringing our hands instead of putting them to work.